Virginia state capitol in Richmond
The first state to seriously consider changing its electoral-vote distribution method to rig future presidential elections was also the first start to formally reject the idea.
A [Virginia state] Senate panel voted Tuesday to kill a GOP plan to change the way Virginia allocates electoral college votes.
The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections voted to bypass the bill indefinitely....The measure appeared headed for defeat after Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) came out against it Friday, as did two GOP senators who sit on the committee that would decide the bill's fate.
The committee vote was 11 to 4. In other words, it wasn't close.
What's more, the vote came against a backdrop of a larger campaign that appears to be imploding. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who had expressed some tepid support for the scheme a few days ago, is now moving in the other direction, as is the state Senate's president. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) started balking yesterday, and a few hours later, the idea effectively died in Ohio.
For those concerned with the integrity of our democratic process and the fairness of American elections, the apparent collapse of the election-rigging scheme is, to be sure, welcome news. The satisfaction is not about party or ideology, but rather, about the ideals of a level playing field in which candidates and parties can engage in a competitive battle of ideas.
But stepping back and looking at this in a larger context, I'd suggest there are two broader angles to keep in mind. The first is that while the relief of the scheme's failure is understandable, it's the result of diminished expectations. After the Virginia committee vote yesterday afternoon, I saw some voting rights advocates effectively cheer, "Hooray! Republicans considered rigging a presidential election through shameless cheating, but then decided against it!"
But that's not saying much, and celebrating a decision not to do something awful is, to put it mildly, unsatisfying.
I'm reminded of an item Ezra Klein recently published about the resolution of the latest debt-ceiling crisis.
On Friday, I asked a Democratic Senate aide what he thought of the House Republicans' decision to raise the debt ceiling for three months, putting it after the sequester and the continuing resolution (which funds the government and could, if not agreed to by the end of March, lead to a government shutdown). "It's a sign of how much the bar has shifted that the prospect of 'just' a shutdown feels like a relief," he said.
Quite right. The "bar has shifted" so far that many of us are delighted, if not amazed, when Republican policymakers voluntarily agree not to crash the global economy on purpose. Our standards for success have fallen so low, we don't actually expect progress -- we instead cheer the absence of political malevolence.
I'm delighted the Republicans' election-rigging scheme is unraveling, but it's nevertheless disheartening that such a scheme was considered, debated, and endorsed by many in the first place. I don't want a political process in which Americans celebrate when something ridiculous fails to happen; I want one in which we rejoice when something worthwhile does happen.
As for the other angle, there's likely to be some debate about how, exactly, the GOP's electoral-college plan fell apart so quickly, and whether it was doomed from the start. Reasonable people can disagree, and the answer is obviously speculative, but I'm of the opinion that it failed because of the scrutiny that came when the media realized what was going on and started talking about it.
Sunlight, in this case, was a very effective disinfectant.
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The GOP: Dirty, compromised, soulless, heartless, ruthless, and devoid of any conscience or morality. I wish voters would keep that in mind when they enter the voting booths. If you want a good example, how about Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas?
Well, he's from Texas, the state founded by failed politicians, cashiered Army officers, back alley assassins, bank robbers, thieves and murderers (and that's just the "heroes" who died at the Alamo). If we kicked Texas out of the union, the national IQ average would raise 20 points, and that's still including the rest of the morons in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
God am I glad I got the hell out of that "whole other country"!
"The soft bigotry of low expectations."
Sure this news is a relief, but I'm a little suspicious. Why all of a sudden would a bunch of Republicans give up on any scheme that would help them win an election? Especially when their policies are so unpopular, the change of winning any election is minimal. They had no shame when it came to voter suppression or gerrymamandering the congressional districts in the last few elections. Surly the word "Democracy" means nothing to them. They've proven this to be true time and time again. So why did, what seemed to be an organized effort to ram this legislation through, just fall apart so easily?
"Why can't we just get along?" A profound question that has never been satisfactorily answered. We, as a country have so much to offer. We all should have a grateful heart.
It is a sad but true fact we can never just get along because the platfom of our democracy is not built on a level playing field. Some people will always see themselves better than other people only because those who have more almost always want more, while those in need will almost always get less because of lobbyist whom have the real power to change the games of the play in that field toward those who have plenty. Please read 'Democracy in America' by Alexis de Tocqueville and you will find out why a grateful heart is not and never enough here in America.
What media scrutiny? I tried to find a CNN new report with the search key, "Republican election rigging" and came up empty handed. Did CNN ever report on this and if so, where can I find the story?
There's a reason they're known as the Cretins' News Network.
I would like to thank Ms. Maddow for breaking this story on her program. It was the first I heard of it, and I hope Ms. Maddow feels very proud of her work in defending the rights of voters.
Gerrymandering is Apartheid. Seriously. It reflects the efforts of a minority to exploit the levers of government to maintain prerogatives over the majority. It's what the Boers did in South Africa, where a minority comprised of whites arrogated all political, social, and economic benefits while excluding and exploiting the majority comprised of blacks. Replace South Africa with the U.S.; whites with Republicans, and blacks with Democrats and you have the same phenomenon, albeit nascent. Can we please convince Rachel to start using this language to call MSM attention to the dystopian future the Republicans are trying to create?
"Gerrymandering is Apartheid." Well said. Gerrymandering is also Jim Crow.
Yes! Jim Crow too. I know Democrats and Republicans have gerrymandered congressional districts and state-house districts for years, and historically it was often more about incumbent vs. insurgent political power. But the notion that we now have a structural impediment to small "d" democratic, meaning one-citizen-one-vote rule in the House of Reps and trial balloons for similar efforts in the electoral college has us crossing a Rubicon.
Washington state - blue as can be but shenanigans gave the republicans control of the state senate - lots of right wing stuff including proportional awarding of electoral college votes still afloat - unfunding parental leave - refusing women's health services parity - argh!
Shine some light on the west coast stuff too - we watch the show and sometimes i feel like a blue dot in a very red portion of the state
The Republicans can give any reason they want for scuttling their latest scheme to cheat but the truth is that they saw how the people reacted to their efforts to cheat in the 2012 election by depressing the vote, they know that these tactics could cost them the house in 2014 after all they swept the 2010 elections because of the low democratic turnout. If they tried to disenfranchise even more voters the results could be their death knell. There is no honor in what they have done.
This makes way too much sense (& is very scary).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/gop-governors-snookering-_b_2585606.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
The Republican party is on its deathbed. The lethal injection has come from within. When Harry Byrd and the Virginia delegation walked out of the Democratic convention in 1972, his followers began what is now the full circle of southern extremists taking over the party of Lincoln.
They loathed that civil rights had become the law of the land. They felt that Democrats had abandoned the military in Viet Nam. They were even insulted that the country had been taken over by a Catholic. They were further despaired that LBJ had sold out his native south by ramming more Liberal agendas down throats of good God fearing southern men and genteel ladies.
The railroading of Richard Nixon, followed by the anointment of McGovern as the next Liberal to shove more stuff down their throats was too much to bear.
The next three decades resulted in a complete turning of the South into a conservative bastion. However, the best they could come up with was Reagan, and the Bushes. They grew too old to carry on their conservative swing. Now we are saddled with their offspring, dreaming of taking the country to the conservative promised land. Luckily, as with all old ideas, their time is passing, too. Due to these idiotic notions that amount to the Stalinization of the democratic process, they have exposed to the public a disregard for their intelligence. It is no miracle that Republicans are quickly backing down from this agenda. It is the stark realization of political suicide that brings this abandonment of "principle".
When "absolutism" is the best they can muster, Republicans have abdicated the notion that they are in any way a representative of a free people.